The Christmas Chronicles 2 Review

November 26, 2020 at 6:28pm
By Jason Stettner

The Christmas Chronicles 2 is a Netflix Original film that follows two kids as they end up getting sucked through a portal. This takes them to the North Pole where Kate Pierce (Darby Camp) is once again reunited with Santa Claus (Kurt Russell). Santa is also joined by Mrs Claus (Goldie Hawn) who is delightful but not nearly as wild as Russell’s Claus which is again somewhat of a crazy performance that just works well.

Anyways, there’s a somewhat dark presence in the sinister back story of Belsnickel (Julian Dennison) who’s trying to destroy Christmas. This then causes a split as we see Kate and Santa do some dimensional trotting to deal with Belsnickel whereas Mrs Claus and the other kid Jack (Jahzir Bruno) try to deal with the issues at the North Pole.

That story line doesn’t get as much attention, but it’s basically equivalent to the whole water part of Space Jam with Bugs Bunny. At least, that’s the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the direction they took that situation in. It’s definitely got some theatrics and weird moments throughout, a fine follow-up to the original yet perhaps not as good but still decently deep when it comes to the emotional elements.

I will say that they get the sense and scale of the North Pole right. At the same time, some of the CGI is downright horrible here. That’s particularly the case with the elf creatures, they’re just unsettling and awful to take in. There are also many scenes where it’s very clear the cast is just walking along a green screen.

That’s disappointing I suppose as Christmas scenes with a practical type of set are often ever so charming. Still, they do get the wonder element right I suppose and I appreciate that. The acting was also generally fine, I liked the cast in their roles and it does feel consistent with the one that came prior.

It would actually be neat to see further aging of the cast in a third one down the road. There are a number of musical moments which was expected and it is one insanely wild ride. This series is straight up odd.

The Conclusion

The Christmas Chronicles 2 is just as wacky as one might expect, carrying the narrative forward and doing some surprising new things with it. It’s perhaps not as intriguing as the original, but still an easy Christmas watch for sure.

You once again get a very strong performance from Russell and he was matched almost perfectly with Hawn. I liked their dynamics, and the sense of wonder they tried to portray in the town. Still, the CGI was just awful at times and they didn’t really carry forward the same weight to the dramatic elements that the first one did.

That was disappointing I suppose, there’s a moment or two there but it’s not quite the same situation. I still generally found this to be a fine watch though. It continues the series in a fine way and I’m curious about what they’d do with a follow-up should that come to happen someday in the future.

The Christmas Chronicles 2 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Content Access was Provided by Netflix

Rating Overall: 5.7